Can Adults with Bipolar Adopt Children of Their Own?

Adults with bipolar disorder may think they are excluded from adopting a child because of their condition. This cannot be further from the truth. While the process may be a little different, you can adopt a child even if you’ve been diagnosed with mental illness. One author shares her initial phone call inquiry:

The First Call: Realizing I Want a Child

(likewise, tears fill her eyes.) Uh-huh, I know. A baby girl just … last year. A regular real fertility goddess. (And now she breaks down. She begins to weep, almost uncontrollably.) I’m sorry. I want a child! I want a child to call me mommy for once … and every time I hear about someone having a baby, or see the moms at the mall with their babies, all of them talking about their … their pregnancies, their kids, I either cry, tune completely out or walk away, pissed off at all of ’em.”